


Homecoming

by Beleriandings



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Immortality, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 20:12:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6438574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's no such place as Ouryuu village, but Zeno did have a childhood and a family before he received the dragon's blood. And no matter how long ago his old home disappeared from the map, traces and memories endure the span of centuries, and can come up again unexpectedly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

The ground was flat, now, and overgrown with grass, but Zeno could make out the lines clearly enough, straight lines where stone walls had once stood. It had been the only stone building in the village, the central hall where the elders had had their meetings, where the villagers had come together as the dusk drew in towards night. Everything else had been built of mud and woven wicker. Sturdy enough of course, to hold up the solid roof of knotted and woven bundles of river reeds that kept the families within sheltered from the weather. But not lasting; the forest and the underbrush had grown over where the houses of the villagers had once stood, leaving not even a trace. No; the only thing left to show there had once been a village here at all was the faint lines in the grass where the stone walls of the hall had been, the vague outline of the hearth in the centre, though its bricks had long ago crumbled into dust. 

The forest had encroached further onto the clearing too, less of the wide, blue sky visible through the treetops now than in days when the area had been kept meticulously cleared. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of voices and the clattering of poles, the flapping of cloth as the others began to put up the tent, but Zeno barely noticed, his mind suddenly far away, returning to a place he had not been in… well, even that he had forgotten. 

In many ways, that had been another person’s life, he thought. The life of a boy with a family, with a mother and a father and sisters and brothers who he had argued with sometimes, but got along with mostly. Other families just like his own, living close by. They had fished in the river and farmed the land, and he and the other children had been sent out to pick berries in the forest in the summer, when the sun shone down and burned their skin to dark gold. 

He had fallen from a tree and broken his ankle once, and his sister had scolded him first, then wiped away his tears with a sigh, picking him up and carrying him back to their mother for some willow tea and more scolding, a kiss on the forehead and a bandage of clay that set hard so that his bones could knit back together right. 

Had any of that even happened? Or had it been a dream? It was easy to believe it had, looking at the place now. Back then, it had taken a few weeks for the swelling at his ankle to go down, and then he had been unable to walk for two turns of the moon. Now, his bones could shatter and heal over and over, enduring all, outlasting the rotting wickerwork and crumbling stones of the village as well all the people in it. 

“Zeno. There you are!”

He turned, as he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Ah Miss, Zeno is sorry for wandering.“

“That’s alright” said Yona, smiling. “I like it here, too. I’m glad we chose this place to camp.”

Zeno nodded. “We will sleep safe here, tonight.”

She cocked her head, something in his tone making her stop. “Zeno, do you know this place?”

“Yes” he said, deciding in that moment to tell her. Even that surprised him a little; he had barely spoken about the life _before_ he became Ouryuu, even with his new-found dragon brothers right after the fact, even with the King. All their eyes had been too set on the future then, maybe. “Once there was a village here.”

“A village?”

“Yes. The village where Zeno was born.”

Yona’s eyes went wide. “Oh! Zeno, I…” she seemed as though she didn’t know what to say, sadness in her eyes. “Have you ever come back here… since?”

“Once” he said, softly.

_It had been not long after he had placed Kaya’s dusty bones in a clay urn, at long last. He had been lost, wandering without knowing or caring where his feet took him. They had taken him here, as it happened. He had stood on the spot where he thought his own house had been - it was overgrown, swallowed by the forest, and it was difficult to tell. He had stood there for many days and nights, his heart far away. Mother, Father, he had whispered. I met someone, and we lived a simple, happy life for a while, just like you always wanted. I’m sorry you never got to meet her though. I think you would have liked her._

The wind blew across his face once more, the beads making a quiet tinkling sound against the golden medallion tied in his hair. The sound brought him back to the present. “A long time ago.”

Yona seemed about to ask more, but at that moment, a shout came from behind them, then Yoon’s voice, raised in annoyance, then several more voices protesting, all talking at once. 

Yona smiled sadly, then hugged him, taking him by surprise. After a moment though, Zeno threw his arms around her in return, holding her tight. She was very warm. “Sorry about them” Yona whispered into his hair, laughing ruefully. She drew back, holding his forearms and looking at him critically. “I can tell them to quiet down if you want to… remember…” she gestured vaguely in the air, looking doubtful and flushing as though unsure what to say. “Or we can even camp down the river if it hurts too much to see, Zeno. It’s no trouble.”

“It’s alright, Miss” said Zeno, smiling brightly. “There’s been too much silence here, for too long. Besides, it’s a good place to set up the tent; the ground is flat and the river flows by under the sky.” He raised his hands into the air, so that the sun shone on his palms. Then he smiled. “There are berries in the woods, too! I think the Miss would like them.”

“Well, then you’ll have to show me, Zeno.”


End file.
